1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a designation plate for use with panel systems for communication jacks, also known as jackfields. A jack, as the term is used hereafter, is an individual female contact, for mechanical and electric cooperation with a corresponding male jack plug.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A jack-field is an array of jacks used to cross-patch audio, video or digital signals. The jackfield also serves as a test or monitoring point for these same signals. Jackfields are used anywhere considerable quantities of audio, digital or video signals need to be interconnected in varying configurations. The primary industries are telecommunications, broadcast, cable, duplicating and recording.
The jackfield usually has a generally flat face plate with a plurality of holes, one hole for each jack. The signals coming to and exiting the jackfield are interfaced at the rear of the jackfield. The communication jacks accept standard jack plug patch cords, to effect the desired interconnection, or patch, between two jacks at the front of the panel system. The jackfields are usually rack-mounted. Other names used to describe jackfields are patch-field, patch-bay, bay, audio bay or video bay.
The jacks are available in different types such as video, digital video, longframe audio and bantam audio. Longframe and bantam (TT) audio jacks are the most traditional of the types of jacks used in jackfields. They are used mainly for audio, digital audio and RS422 signal patching.
Typical installation of these jacks from inception to present day sees these jacks mounted into panels, the panels mounted into equipment racks. To provide the user with a possibility to label each jack connection on the panel, strip holders have been mounted above and below the rows of jacks. Each strip holder would accommodate a strip of paper or similar material, on which the user could write any preferred designations relating to the particular jack. Due to the fact that the jacks will have to be mounted onto the panel in some way, and the preferred method of doing this has traditionally been to screw the individual jack to the panel from the front of the panel, there has been a need to provide an unobstructed access to the mounting hole of the screw and the screw head. The access has either been a direct access to a free screw hole, or an access hole in the strip holder, if the strip holder was made wide enough to cover the jack mounting screw. However, the width of the patch cord jack plug handle has made it necessary to provide enough clearance between the jack plug handle and the strip holder, to ensure that the jack plug could be fully seated into the corresponding jack. This has effectively limited the width of the strip holder.